Lost in Translation? The role of Homework assignments in Learning Process

Author(s):

Linda Daniela(presenting / submitting)Tamara Pigozne Miltiadis Lytras

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

11. Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance

Format:

Paper

Session Information

11 SES 10 A, Teaching Strategies and Learning Quality

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-24

15:30-17:00

Room:

W2.10

Chair:

Ineta Luka

Contribution

There are constant changes in the educational process. New and innovative solutions are being sought after to promote academic growth of students, one of the prerequisites for such growth is active involvement of students in the educational process to construct their knowledge and develop their competencies.

Classroom lessons have a time restriction, which is why home assignments, a form of teaching, is used in the educational process in order to promote the student’s ability to search and gather the necessary information independently and use the acquired knowledge by active participation, thus promoting the development of metacognitive processes.

However, the question of the amount and the type of home assignments, as well as the purpose of home assignments is becoming more relevant, because the OECD/PISA results show that both Finland and Singapore have achieved high learning achievements. The home assignment load being lighter in the former while being significantly higher in the latter (Education at a Glance, OECD Indicators, 2014).

The opinion on the necessity of home assignments varies and there are people who believe that home assignments are a good means to promote an active learning process, which makes it a necessity. While there are others who believe that home assignments are not necessary because it overloads the students and creates additional stress, which does not promote learning.

This raises the research questions: What is the role of homework assignments in the learning process? Can the homework assignments be used to promote constructing of owns knowledge? What pedagogical strategies should be used to use the time for homework assignment meaningfully?

To determine how the homework assignments can be used in pedagogical process to promote the active learning 10 schools in Riga united for a project „Meaningful home assignments” and set out their goal: to develop and test in practice the role of home assignments in a meaningful child learning process, to promote a wide range of competencies development and improve learning achievements. To reach the goal there are several tasks:
1. Identify the existing practice of assigning and grading home assignments in order to improve it in accordance with the newest findings in pedagogy regarding active learning.

2. Develop and put into practice meaningful home assignment strategies, which promote an active participation of students in the construction of their knowledge.

Currently, the first stage of the research is complete and it is possible to report the initial findings.

Methodology used for the research – To determine the time spent on preparing home assignments, the type of homework being assigned the most, the subjects with the most home assignments, how students prepare the assigned home tasks and whether the help of parents or other people is necessary for the preparation of the home assignments, partially structured surveys for students, teachers and parents were prepared.

Theoretical framework: H. Cooper, J.J. Lindsay, B. Nye, J.C. Robinson, E.A. Patall,C. Migdley, T. Urdan, L. Shumow, J. A. Schmidt, H. Kackar, P. Tough, U. Trautwein, O. Köller, B. Schmitz, J. Baumert, D. Ramdass, B.J. Zimmerman, P. Warton, J. Xu

Method

All schools completed structured questionnaires: a) The survey for 5 - 12th grade students 862 students (477 girls and 385 boys) b) The survey for teachers - 233 teachers (208 women, 25 men) c) The survey parents - 304 parents (parents' answers are analysed in this article) Students' questionnaire consisted of 14 blocks of questions, where the part was designed to gather information on the respondent's gender, class and school and other issues were to find out what kind of homework assignments they have to do, how much time students devoted to them and so on. It was questioned whether students need help with homework assignments and who helps. For some of these questions, students could express their opinion in scale from 1 to 5, where 1 - never, but 5 - always. The questionnaire included a part of the open-ended questions Teachers 'questionnaire consisted of 15 blocks of questions - how much time they think that students spend on homework assignments to compare student time spent in reality. Part of the questions teachers were offered to answer on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 - never, but 5 - always. Teachers were also asked whether they cooperate with other subject teachers, and if so, with whom. In conclusion, teachers were asked to answer open-ended questions about the types of problems they face and what they think could be the solution, where teachers were able to freely express their views. The parental questionnaire consisted of 12 blocks of questions where the part was to gather information on whether the questionnaire is filled for the respondent's son or daughter, the school and the classroom learning the respondent's child. Parents were asked to indicate how much time children spend on homework assignments. The answers to these questions could be provided using a scale from 1 - 5, where 1 - never and 5 - always. They were asked to identify those subjects in which assistance is needed. Quantitative data was processed by using SPSS software, while qualitative data was analysed using the principles of content analysis.

Expected Outcomes

1. Quite significantly different teachers' views on how long should be given their homework assignments and student replies provided by real time spent on specific homework. 2. Teachers quite a lot asks homework that require the use of a work forms like writing, reading and information search, which is obviously important, and requires students to master certain skills, but those increases, the more it is advisable to use a variety of methods for project work where students can already use their skills to read and gather information to analyze, synthesize it, and create a basis for its future cognitive development. 3. Teachers instructing homework, often used in addition to the reasons for the students homework to ask, but it can also be a risk, because such a choice can encourage students' negative attitude formation, which may also already is the reason for the problems of the teachers indicate in their replies, which it says that students are careless disregard homework transfer deadlines 4. Teachers point out issues such as students 'negative attitude towards school work, parents' improper involvement. 5. Teachers associate necessity of homework assignments with the strengthening of knowledge, which is important in the learning process, it is one of the active components of learning, but teachers 'answers on students' attitudes toward homework, points to the fact that students are also required on other grounds which promote their involvement. 6. With increasing age of the students, they are less and less fulfilling homework and it's alarming because indicate that there is an acute problem in the educational process to be solved - low learning motivation, reluctance to participate actively in the construction of their knowledge, used inappropriate teaching strategies that work forms use.

References

H. Cooper, Homework, Longman, White Plains, NY, Longman, 1989 H. Cooper, J.J. Lindsay, B. Nye, “Homework in the home: How student, family, and parenting-style differences relate to the homework process”, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25 (4), pp. 464–487, 2000 H. Cooper, J.C. Robinson, E.A. Patall, “Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research”, Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), pp. 1–62, 2006 R. J. Degen, “Brain-Based Learning: The Neurological Findings About the Human Brain that Every Teacher should Know to be Effective”. Amity Global Business Review, pp. 915-23, 2014 J. Hardman, “Opening-up Classroom Discourse to Promote and Enhance Active, Collaborative and Cognitively-Engaging Student Learning Experiences”. Research-Publishing.Net, 2016 E. Jensen, Brain-based learning: The new paradigm of teaching (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008 J.M. Langberg, M.R. Dvorsky, S.W. Evans, “What specific facets of executive function are associated with the academic functioning in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41 (7), pp. 1145–1159, 2013 C. Migdley, T. Urdan, “Academic self-handicapping and performance goals: A further examination”. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26, pp. 61-75, 2001 OECD Indicators, Education at a Glance, OECD Indicators, 2014 [E-Reader Version]. OECD, PISA 2015 Results (Volume I): Excellence and Equity in Education, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2016 [E-Reader Version]. M.A. Rogers, J. Wiener, I. Marton, R. Tannock, “Parental involvement in children's learning: Comparing parents of children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)” Journal of School Psychology, 47 (3), pp. 167–185, 2009 L. Shumow, J. A. Schmidt, H. Kackar, “Adolescents' Experience Doing Homework: Associations among Context, Quality of Experience, and Outcomes”. School Community Journal, 18(2), pp. 9-27., 2008 P. Tough, “How kids really succeed”. Atlantic, 56. Vol. 317 Issue 5, pp. 56-66, 2016 U. Trautwein, O. Köller, B. Schmitz, J. Baumert, “Do homework assignments enhance achievement? A multilevel analysis in 7th-grade mathematics”, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27 (1), pp. 26–50, 2002 D. Ramdass, B.J. Zimmerman, “Developing self-regulation skills: The important role of homework”, Journal of Advanced Academics, 22 (2), pp. 194–218, 2011 L. S. Vygotsky, Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1962, [E-Reader Version]. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11193-000 P. Warton, “The forgotten voices in homework: Views of students”. Educational Psychologist, 36 (3), pp. 155-165., 2001 J. Xu, “Family help and homework management in urban and rural secondary schools”. Teachers College Record, 106 (9), pp. 1786-1803, 2004

Author Information

Linda Daniela (presenting / submitting)

University of Latvia

Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art

Riga

Tamara Pigozne

University of Latvia

Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art

Riga

Miltiadis Lytras

The American College of Greece

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.